Sumptuous fare on offer for double festive season
We aren’t short of reasons to celebrate with good food, family and friends especially at this time of year. One of the most important events right now is the Winter Solstice Festival, also known as Dongzhi Festival, that falls during the 11th month of the lunar calendar and symbolizes the changing of the seasons. It’s the shortest day of the year and falls on Dec 22 when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is least aligned with the sun.
In the United Kingdom, it is celebrated during sunrise at Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Erected in about 2500 BC, one of its most important features is the alignment with the midwinter sunset and midsummer sunrise.
In Asia, this Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. According to Chinese traditional customs, it is the ideal time to pay respects to ancestors, and to make gifts to exchange between friends and relatives. So, you could be in for a double helping of joy with Christmas so close by!
Based on the Chinese concept of yin and yang, balance and harmony, many Hong Kong restaurants are providing elaborate repasts with traditional dishes to set the scene for an excellent celebration.
At the Hung Tong restaurant on the seventh floor of the Kerry Hotel in Hung Hom Bay, the Winter Solstice dinner will take place on Dec 22. The celebration menu for dinner that evening conforms to traditions with sliced suckling pig, barbecued prime Iberico pork, bird’s nest soup, fresh crab meat, scallops, garoupa, chicken with all the trimmings as well as rice with seafood.
There’s more than a hint of past magic in this area, which is steeped in the rich history of shipping and the related seafaring trades. And there’s an ongoing sense of that here as the Hung Tong restaurant boasts sweeping views over Victoria Harbour and on to Hong Kong Island. The design of the hotel itself — and by consequence the restaurant too — is beautiful and there’s an appealing contrast of modernity and tradition. Most noted are vintage-inspired leather chairs and tinted glass pendants. There are cosy seating arrangements and two private dining rooms. And there’s an added plus at the comfortable bar on the ground floor for before or after drinks with a bevy of award-winning bartenders.
At the Kowloon Hotel on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, there’s not one but two special menus for this Winter Solstice celebration. Menu B lists roast suckling pig and braised whole abalone among other traditional dishes. While equally posh ingredients for Menu A include distinctive dishes, such as live giant garoupa and double-boiled silky fowl soup with sea whelk and precious cordyceps to set a scene of opulence.
Found at altitudes above 4,500 meters in the Himalayas, on the Tibetan plateau, cordyceps is a type of mushroom — but calling them that is akin to saying gold is just a mineral! Traditional healers in many East Asian cultures recommend cordyceps as a tonic and claim that it improves energy, appetite, stamina, libido, endurance, and sleeping patterns. Be that as it may, it is a precious item!
History says Chinese Winter Solstice Festival is the time for family reunion. Make it a modern one and treat yours to a feast of Cantonese tradition. Keep in mind that this shortest day of the year gives way to the light and warmth of yang. For this reason, the Winter Solstice Festival is a time for optimism.
The Mira hotel on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui lies at the heart of Hong Kong’s commercial, shopping, dining and entertainment district. Should you decide to spend your festive time there at the Michelin-recommended Cuisine Cuisine restaurant, there are many dishes to enjoy.
For this shortest day/longest night of the year celebration, chef Edwin Tang prepares a Winter Solstice festive dinner of fresh Cantonese flair. The Chinese Winter Solstice Festival Dinner menu shows heartwarming Cantonese delicacies, such as sauteed prawn with vegetables and Yunnan ham. And, in pride of place, there’s braised turnip rings stuffed with dried scallops and sea moss. This menu is in place between Dec 9 and Dec 22. And if that’s not enough — there are eight exceptional dishes including delicate stir-fried lobster with spicy garlic for Christmas dinner on Dec 24, 25 and 31!
You could spend gluttonous weeks celebrating without a care for your waistline.
Have a good one!